Tubescreamer shootout of "mojo special" parts

[sgmezei]

So I have two GGG tubescreamer boards that I want to experiment with.

One will be stock with "normal" box caps and normal resistors.

The other is already loaded with carbon comp resistors. I don't know what to order for caps though. Are there particular ones that are considered "better". Like the tantalums or something? And I'm assuming I should just use the lowest tolerance electrolytics.

I basically I want to build one "normally" and one with the expensive parts.

Input about caps and pots ect. is appreciated.

PS- I know I have read a bunch of people arguing over different types of resistors and caps and blah blah blah. I just wanted to do a test of my own with some different parts.

Thanks Team!

[jtn191]

some say tantalums sound better, but it seems like bigger mods would make a more worthwhile shootout, ie neutrino/eternity vs TS808 vs eternity burst

[slimtriggers]

I would think the biggest differences would be in various clipping arrangements.  That's a shootout I'd like to hear!

[night-B]

The panasonic's ecq series, and panasonic FM for the radial are really good caps! I use only them.
But that's only my opinion...

[bigmufffuzzwizz]

I've always believed the box caps are the nice caps! The green mylar film caps and ceramic disc are the cheap ones, red ones being slightly more and box caps being the most expensive of typical nF range caps. Maybe sprague orange drops for "mojo"?

[jkokura]

I've always felt that when it comes to the price we're paying, caps are caps are caps. I can't hear a difference between box film and chicklet film, mylar or poly or ceramic, or even hear a difference between some op amps. I especially don't hear a difference in the band mix.

I realize this sort of defeats the purpose of the thread, so I'm not trying to derail you, just offering my perspective.

My philosophy towards caps is that I work with what fits and makes ecomomical sense. I buy caps for what works and gives me a low noise ratio while being ultimately inexepensive to use. That means box or chicklet poly film for me. Some might try and find higher fidelity sort of caps to try.

My suggestion for a real comparison is to use nothing but ceramic caps and nothing but poly film caps in two separate builds. If you can hear a difference, it will likely be noise and artifacts based on the reports I've read in the past.

Jacob

[small fish]

Not the "caps-question" but I made a TS808 clone and used carbon comp resistors (the fat, dark-brown ones), which I measured with my dmm, according to the values in the schematic.

I wouldn´t say, that it was exactly that, which made it sound very nice (imho). I think the good TS around there, got a mixture of matching values / materials. That´s the not-so-easy point: I bought 40 resistors to find 37 different values with the dmm, and only 2 that would match the schematic values (no 100%, but close to).
Find the right combination will be kind of a lottery game: there is so much "near by", but very few "Jackpot".

Iow, try to match some transistors, to build a MXR phaser, which is quite difficult, even from the same production lot.

Let it be mojo and enjoy your: "Oh - my - GOD - it lives.....ehm.....it works!!!!" 

[sgmezei]

hahaha Thanks for the reply small fish!

[small fish]

you´re welcome 

[sgmezei]

Okay, finally finished it. I will let you know when I have some tasty adjectives to describe it compared to a "normal" one.
Basically just went carbon comps and the cheap greenie caps.

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